John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. On 24 February, we saw Russia illegally breach international law with its brutal invasion of Ukraine. In 2014 we saw Russia annex the Crimea, which again was a grave breach of international law. There is a grave hypocrisy here, however, because the international reaction to the illegal invasion by Russia has seen sanctions being immediately imposed on the aggressor, and rightfully so too. The hypocrisy, however, is that we see a brutal occupation and a continued illegal and colonial settlement expansion on occupied territories by Israel and yet we do not see the same international response, reaction or sanctions being imposed on what is a continuous, brutal occupation in breach of international laws.

To say that Ireland supports this agreement flies in the face of the stance that this Chamber has taken last year, when we acknowledged that Israel has breached international law by annexing Palestinian lands. I seek the Minister's response on this issue.

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